Tuesday, 1 September 2015

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #595 Reject Shark Finning Practices

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #595 Reject Shark Finning Practices

Approximately 73 million sharks are killed by
humans every year, with most of them being killed only for their fin. The rest
of the carcass is thrown back into the ocean to rot as if oceans were giant
rubbish dumps purely there for the convenience of mankind and his unwanted
trash. With this kind of attitude, we have been responsible for sending one
third of all open ocean shark species to the brink of extinction. Yay us!

Shark fins are taken as a food source, to make
shark fin soup. The following quote comes from

Shark fin soup is traditionally
served at formal occasions in Chinese culture to symbolise both the wealth of
the host and respect for their guests. With an increasingly affluent Chinese
middle class, the demand for shark fin soup is driving a 5% annual increase in
the shark fin trade, putting additional pressure on a range of shark species,
many of which are already considered endangered.

The issue wouldn’t be quite so bad if the sharks were taken
whole and every part of the animal used for food. Just to grab a living
creature, cut off its fin and let it sink to the bottom of the ocean is not
okay on several levels. If we take any creature’s life it should be for food,
and the whole animal should be used. When we take an animal it should be by
using cruelty-free methods – imagine these sharks sinking, live, to the bottom
of the ocean where they drown. If we used all of the shark we could reduce
pressure on other ocean species as food sources.

It’s not the shark fin soup that’s the evil in this practice
– it’s the method of killing and the amount of waste that needs to be
addressed, and if that means public pressure by not frequenting restaurants
that sell shark fin soup, or writing to government bodies, or organising
protest campaigns through animal rights groups, then this is what we should do –
for the sake of the sharks.

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About Me

I am a writer, emerging artist, quiltmaker and public speaker. My current art installation is a work in progress, titled "1000 Flowers for the Planet". Every day, for 1000 days, I will blog one flower with a positive suggestion for how we can improve the planet - environmental, social, moral and ethical ideas. Please join me on this journey, send me your ideas for further suggestions and feel free to comment. If everyone took up only 1% of the ideas (i.e. 10 new actions), imagine the shift in the world!!
www.margaretrowe.com.au